Re: more on Fabriano Artistico

Some info I sent to Ryuji offlist may be of benefit to you all:

p. 239 of Jerry's large catalog: LW15 Badger Softener. 4" is $17.99, cat
no. 59390. You MUST superglue the base of the brush where the hairs are
attached, because it sheds like mad (as one old time book says, "a brush in
its moulting season is a nuisance").

     Rives BFK at Jerry's is 10 for 2.49, 25 for 2.24, and 100 for
1.99.Magnani is 2.29. 30 sheets of Artistico is $2.67 ea and 100 sheets is
$2.49 All these prices for 22x30. So Rives is cheaper.

     In relation to Tom F's post about paper: the soft press is a regular
kind of pattern in Fabriano; the cold press is not as regular. I actually
prefer the cold press paper to the soft press because of this. But of all,
I do prefer the hot, and, as Tom says, it boils down to a matter of taste.
     As far as color balance, I have purposely printed my gums very yellow,
very brown, very magenta, etc. when the subject matter warrants it. I even
discovered, inadvertently a new technique which I'll share:
      Take citric acid powder, and think you are dissolving it in a liter of
water (1 T to a liter), but don't :) Take your cyanotypes, and develop them
in this after first maybe a 5 minute soak in plain water. This, coupled
with an inadvertent too large squirt of Tween in the cyanotype solution,
produces, on a cyanotype, these wonderful little dreamlike spots of pale,
starry sort of. I thought I had ruined 8 prints, but decided to keep
printing on top. They look really unique--blurry and faded and kind of a
mess, but I love them! So much for perfection! I fly by the seat of my
pants. That's my goal for this next semester of grad school, to capitalize
upon gum's "mistakes".
Chris
Received on Mon Jul 12 10:59:05 2004